Making Things Right

A few months ago I brought a new ball to the two-year old grandson of a lady who I visit each week. He immediately took it in his hands and (being a boy) began to kick it.

The problem is they live on top of a hill, so he would often kick it over the side of that hill. The ball would then end up at the bottom of their steps in a gutter beside the road.

I didn’t see the ball for a long time and thought it was because they had put the ball away. She had told me they put it in a closet because he kept kicking it down the hill, and were worried he would tr to go down and get it.

I finally asked her a few weeks ago where the ball was, and she got very sad…..

Someone had stolen it!!

They believe what happened was he kicked the ball to the bottom of the hill, and someone seeing the ball in the gutter, just took it. This was wrong of course since everyone would know it belonged to him. But sadly stealing is a serious problem here.

My first response was frustration because someone had taken a little boy’s ball.

My second response was to make things right.

Sadly, we live in a world that isn’t fair. All around us are signs of a broken world that hates the ways 0f God. The initial emotion when facing this is anger. That’s actually a good thing, because our hearts should be frustrated by sin. Of course, I am not referring to violent uncontrolled anger here. Instead a frustration of heart that says “this isn’t right!

But that’s not enough.

Then we have to do something about it.

We as Christians cannot fix all of the world’s problems. But we are called to do what we can. Like the good Samaritan, we notice those who have been abused by this world, and minister to their needs. The fact that someone stops and does something about the problem means a great deal.

We cannot fix the biggest problems of this broken world…

but we can endeavor to fix some of the small ones.

Monday morning I brought a new ball for the grandson to play with. It took him a while to understand what it was. But when he did, the boy immediately threw down the plastic bottle in his hand, grabbed the ball, and a huge smile came on his face.

There are countless people in this world filled with sadness and pain. Souls who just long for someone who would love them. And a simple act of kindness will restore their joy.

We can’t do everything friends.

But we can bring a smile to the face of those who are discouraged.